Smb Community Podcast By Karl W. Palachuk

Host James Kernan interviewed Yoram Baltinester for this show. Yoram has been coaching and leading seminars since 1989. His fast, fierce and focused approach has earned him the nickname “The Personal Development Samurai.” While developing a successful high-tech career for large companies Yoram created and refined the LifeDesign Method and the Decisive Action Protocol. These tools facilitate effective leadership, high-quality decision-making, and purposeful engagement with business to create meaningful success without sacrificing life balance and burning-out. Yoram was involved in multiple startups since 1985, in Personal Development and in the software, hardware, and I.T. industries. He started a Managed I.T. Services company right after September 11th, which he grew and sold in 2013. In his free time, Yoram loves to travel. In 1992, Yoram and his wife spent a year backpacking around the world, spending most of that time in China, crossing the Gobi Desert into Tibet and then the Himalayas into Nepal and India

My friend Ryan Morris (from Morris Management Partners) normally hangs out on the Killing IT Podcast. But today he joined me here to talk about our industry from three different perspectives: Vendor, Distributor, and Partner. Obviously, we spent most of our time on the Partner side of the equation. Ryan is a 25+ year veteran of the IT channel. He has lived and worked in the channel from practically every point of view: solution provider, vendor, distributor, service provider, market analyst, business consultant, keynote speaker and industry expert. Ryan works with clients from small startups to Fortune 50 and delivers services around the world. An award-winning speaker, consultant, and coach, Ryan’s vision is to help the IT industry build businesses that thrive in every market. Morris Management Partners (MMP) is a Seattle, WA-based professional services firm that works with IT vendors, distributors, and solution provider. Our services are designed to help companies optimize business performance, build profit

Amy Babinchak is back, this time to question the relevancy of RMM and PSA tools with Amy Luby, founder of SMB Managed Services Community. The technical landscape is constantly evolving, specifically in terms of security; it's not always a given that our existing tools are still right for the job.  More about Amy Luby: Amy is a successful leader and entrepreneur in the IT Services Channel, with an extensive record of achievement in Channel Sales program development and recruiting IT solution providers. She has strong technical expertise and domain knowledge in the rapidly evolving global managed, cloud and security services marketplace and a proven track record in creating profitable managed and cloud product portfolios, developing profitable Channel sales operations, increasing revenue quickly, and exploiting untapped market opportunities.  Amy is founder and moderator of the global SMB Managed Services Community with 3000 active global SMB MSP reseller members. Amy is also a proven entrepreneur and pioneer i

I was happy to catch up with Mike Michalowicz, author of Profit First, Surge, The Pumpkin Plan, and his newest release Clockwork. By his 35th birthday, Mike had founded and sold two companies - one to private equity and another to a Fortune 500. Today he is running his third multi-million dollar venture, Profit First Professionals. He is a former small business columnist for The Wall Street Journal and the former business makeover specialist on MSNBC. Over the years, Mike has traveled the globe speaking with thousands of entrepreneurs. If you've listened to his audio books, you'll be pleased to know that he's just as nice and personable in the "real" world. Note: I've got him tape (well, digital audio) saying that he'll be back to talk about his next book, Fix This First. We covered that for a couple of minutes at the end of the interview. Stay tuned. And if you have questions for Mike when he returns, send them to me! Mike's new book, Fix This Next, will be coming out in April. Mike's Links: http://www.mike

Catch Amy's Q&A with MSP owners Leon Black and John Zanazzi on her recent whitepaper: How to Build a Valuable Local LinkedIn Network. Get clarity on who to target, how often to post and more.  Find Amy's whitepaper here: https://www.smbbooks.com/How-To-Build-A-Valuable-Local-LinkedIn-Network-p/bab02.htm About our guests: Leon Black has been in the IT Industry for over 17 years, from enterprise support with Microsoft, Komatsu, Colgate, through to SMB support. Leon started Inspired Techs in 2012 to help small to medium business leverage technology as their competitive advantage and get the most out of their business. Leon is passionate about RnD and keeping at the front of the changes in technology. This allows us to empower our customers and let them really leverage their relationship with us and their technology On a fun note, Leon is an avid skydiver and has over 760 jumps, 5 Australian skydive records and a few different competition medals.  Links: https://www.inspiredtechs.com.au Facebook/linkedin/twi

This week we had Small Biz Thoughts employee Dylan Dahlquist (Quest) on the show. Dylan is certified in Google Adwords and has been supporting the Small Biz Thoughts brands since 2019. Listen in to hear how he gets paid offering free services to qualifying non-profits. Dylan Quest is a creative scientist with a passion for communicating complex ideas in innovative ways. His career started in materials research for brain implants, but has since left research work for digital advertising, specializing in Google Ads. His business works with organizations around the globe, many of which are non-profits. He utilizes his background in experimentation and data analysis for his clientele in order to create strategies tailored to their business. Dylan is also a member for the team here at Small Biz Thoughts!    You can reach Dylan at DylanQuestDigital@gmail.com

Had a great talk with C.J. Ezell who launched his newest business, CrossBay Digital Marketing in January. His offerings include web design/hosting, reviews, and local SEO. We also talk about working specific verticals and developing a niche. C.J. launched his first company in 1998. Twenty-two years later, he is still starting new ventures and inspiring others to do the same. He is a frequent speaker at business building events throughout North America and has a proven track record of success in the technology services and healthcare industries. His current businesses include PointClear Networks a 2018 MSP501 Winner, The Red5Agency, and CrossBay Digital Marketing, a digital media company focused on helping small businesses grow by increasing their online presence and through the use of social media management and advertising. Links: Web: https://www.crossbaydigital.com Web: www.red5agency.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cjezell/

I was very pleased to catch up with Amy Babinchak - One of the new hosts for this podcast - and talk about employee training. This podcast grew out of a series of private emails we exchanged, which grew from an unrelated topic. Here Amy spells out how she helps employees gain knowledge on new technologies while helping to create consistent processes across all technicians. She also talks about the regular meetings they have in-house, which improve training and build culture at the same time. As a side benefit, Amy gives lots of advice along the way that demonstrate how she has built a very successful IT service business with no office and almost zero overhead.   Links: Check out my Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ThirdTier – This is my ransomware and security group. Private and on-topic always. Subscribe to the blog: https://www.thirdtier.net/ Use the Helpdesk. We only do work for other IT pros.  

I always like to catch up with Chip Reaves from Bigger Brains. Here we're talking about Online Training as a Service. Chip is a 30-year IT channel veteran who has built five MSP or related businesses and sold four. He's best known as the founder and CEO of Computer Troubleshooters USA, the world's largest IT services franchise network. In 2012 Chip created the channel's first end-user training platform for MSPs - Bigger Brains. Chip gives us some strategies for offering training as part of your managed service bundle. It's extremely affordable. In fact, over at the Small Biz Thoughts Technology Community, we have set up a way for you to get this training FREE inside your company, get a discount, and even get more than one NFR license. Check it out now and use the code Karlsentme to get 10% off any Bigger Brains subscription. But even without that discount, you can make huge profits with this service - and educate clients on some products and features then didn't know about.  When you bring value, clients love

Featured Guest: Joseph Landes I talked with Joseph Landes from Nerdio about the specifics of moving clients to the Azure cloud - and the special tools Nerdio employs to make sure you know what it will cost. They also have some cool tools for reducing the cost of running client operations on Azure. Joseph worked at Microsoft for almost 25 years before joining Nerdio to help MSPs learn how to build a successful and profitable cloud practice in Microsoft Azure. Nerdio's flagship product, Nerdio for Azure, has helped thousands of MSPs around the world transiton from the on-premises world to the cloud using automation. Nerdio has significant expertise and technical know-how in the Azure space and is the definitive Azure solution for MSPs. Site: www.getnerdio.com :-)    

My guest this week is my friend Scott Millar from IT Rockstars and MSP Video Academy. Scott is the founder of IT Rockstars. He has an extensive career spanning both IT and marketing. As systems engineer at heart, Scott saw an opportunity at a young age in generating leads to his break-fix computer repair business using online marketing techniques. This evolved into the managed service space where Scott has worked for over 15 years. Now he's helping fellow MSPs and IT business owners generate more leads and win more sales. IT Rockstars offers IT business the opportunity to build a process into their business that will generate a steady, reliable stream of warm leads using proven digital marketing strategy and tactics. Scot has a passion for SEO, but also realized that there are much quicker and more sustainable ways of marketing an IT business. Find out about the four marketing pieces he offers every month, as well as some great "best practice" tips for Facebook Live and repurposing your video content on Linke

IoT Playbook - Part of the ChannelPro Network I interviewed Mark Smith from ChannelPro Network and IoT Playbook. Smith has been in IT for more than 25 years. He was the founder of Windows NT Magazine, a global media company that helped over 1M IT professionals. Mark is the Host of IoT Playbook, part of the ChannelPro Network. IoTPlaybook is on a mission to find the early IoTMSP pioneers and get them to reveal their playbooks so that you benefit from the lessons they’ve learned from the hard way. Playbooks show you the strategies, the business models, the technology stack, the marketing & sales angles, and everything else you need to succeed with each IoT managed service we cover. Playbooks are designed to apply in your business right now. Why you need to add IoT Managed Services to your business now Links: podcast.iotplaybook.com www.FreeIoTClass.com :-)  

I interviewed Alan Conboy of Scale Computing a few days ago. Alan is the CTO office at Scale Computing. With more than 20 years of experience, he is an industry veteran and technology evangelist specializing in designing, prototyping, selling and implementing disruptive storage and virtualization technologies. Prior to Scale Computing, Conboy held positions at Lefthand Networks, ADIC, CreekPath Systems, and Spectra Logic. Conboy is notably one of the first movers in the X86/X64 hyperconvergence space, and one of the first 30 people ever certified by Storage Network Industry Association. Here we discuss Scale's latest partnership with Acronis, a global leader in cyber protection. This OEM partnership offers Acronis Backup to customers through Scale Computing channels, expands its disaster recovery capabilities and delivers archiving, enhanced data protection, and threat mitigation on the Scale Computing HC3 platform. Sites: https://www.scalecomputing.com https://www.scalecomputing.com/blog https://twitter.com

Had a great impromptu chat with Dave Sobel from MSP Radio and The Business of Tech (and the Killing IT podcast). Dave has spent his time as both an IT Service Provider and a vendor. Now he is jumping into a new venture as an analyst and new reporter. If you haven't checked it out already, head over to MSP Radio and subscribe to The Business of Tech - his daily five-minute podcast. Great stuff. Dave mentions three important rules he's set for himself going forward: 1) Do things that are big, different, and significant 2) Don't talk to product marketing managers 3) Never sit on another pricing panel at conferences Find out what's behind these and how they affect what he's up to. I happen to know Dave has some pretty big things planned with MSP Radio, so tune in now and stay tuned. Revevant Links: MSP Radio: https://www.mspradio.com/ Killing IT Podcast: https://killingit.smallbizthoughts.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davesobel/ :-)    

James Kernan: How to build Equity in your business BEFORE you sell - The 8 secrets to increasing the value of your business I had a great chat with fellow coach James Kernan. James is the author of the 36 Month Millionaire Program, and recently published books, Leadership Essentials for Successful Executives and Business Tips. For the past 12 years, James has served as a Principal Consultant for Kernan Consulting and provides Coaching, Advising and Mentoring programs to entrepreneurs and leaders. We only had a half hour, but James covered a lot of territory. In today's crazy M&A environment, many people are approaching the sale of their business before they're ready. That is, they haven't done the ground work to maximize the value of their business before they get serious about selling it. This discussion is chock-full of great advice! Kernan Consulting offers One on One Coaching, CEO Peer Groups, M&A Consulting and online training programs. For more information on the company please visit: www.Kernan

In this podcast, I interview Andrew Lassise, a serial entrepreneur who has built Rush Tech Support from his living room in 2014 to a multi million dollar managed services provider. He got sober in 2013 and has an incredible story of triumph over alcoholism and growing and scaling an IT company Andrew also has a podcast, Self Made & Sober. He talks with entrepreneurs who are in recovery and are successful in business. We kick it off with Andrew's story of hitting the bottom while being pulled over for drunk driving. It was in climbing out of that hole that Andrew found his love for IT service delivery. An interesting twist here is that Andrew has ended up with a podcast where people tell their stories. They open themselves to vulnerability. And their stories help them go to their clients and prospects with their values and integrity on display. An interesting person and story - I think you'll agree. Links: www.rushtechsupport.com www.selfmade-coaching.com :-)  

I had a lot of fun recording this podcast with Nicholas Ford (Account Executive - Partner Network at SherWeb) and Jacob Wellman (Associate Account Executive at SherWeb). In addition to working together, these guys are friends who have built a great culture in their department. See the photo we discuss at www.smbcommunitypodcast.com. Topics include fun at work, building a fun culture, and figuring out how to motivate people and teams. And while we have a lot of fun here, there's also lots of great advice about building your team. You can connect with these guys on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholas-ford-b5a371b1/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacob-wellman-7a879412b/   Comments welcome.

I interviewed Ahin Thomas, Vice President of Backblaze. He describes himself as "A former bartender, songwriter and hand model." Ahin previously worked as director of eCommerce at Sears Holdings, was the co-founder and CEO of Vintners' Alliance, and was the head of marketing for Symphony Commerce. In this interview, Ahin talks about Backblaze's major products: Computer Backup and Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage. Computer Backup provides unlimited data storage, native clients that silently run in the background for Mac/Windows, and affordable prices with rock solid endpoint backups that do not require maintenance. Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage works well with an established company and includes reliable/predictable pricing in an industry where it is lacking. It also empowers companies to "move to the cloud" and leaves room for MSPs to make a profit where they can switch to Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage, giving customers a discount vs. Amazon S3, and pocket the difference. Relevant links: - https://www.backblaze.com - htt

I interviewed Keith Gillette, founder of TaskTrain, a new documentation tool for checklists and procedures. He describes TaskTrain as "A practical tool to scale your business by eliminating avoidable errors & increasing operational efficiency. Keith Gillette is a "process pragmatist" and Founder/CEO of TaskTrain, a process management SaaS application streamlined for SMBs. Keith has more than 25 years of IT operations management experience in both embedded and virtual CIO roles. He holds a Master of Science in Information & Telecommunications Systems Management as well as a Master of Business Administration from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Keith is a Six Sigma-certified senior member of the American Society for Quality. As a systems administrator, Keith was often burned by lack of system configuration and procedural documentation, so he became diligent in documenting everything he did. He carried that lesson with him when he advanced to IT leadership. His motto became "If it's n

I had a great chat with my old friend Nigel Moore from Australia about his new book, Package Price Profit. (You can buy it on Amazon in paperback or Kindle edition.) This book is a great overview of pricing and bundling options in the IT service industry. I particularly love his analogy about so-called All You Can Eat: Everything at the buffet is included. If you want us to make a special dish for you, that's not included! Of course Nigel is also the founder of the Tech Tribe - www.thetechtribe.com. So we chatted about that a bit. The official book site is www.packagepriceprofit.com. :-)